Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 20 June 2002 — Page 2

The Muncie Times, June 20,2002, page 2

EDITORIAL

It's Black Music Month, so enjoy the melodic

June is officially African American Music Month. So it is natural that we should be celebrating that this month. Music is one area where African Americans have excelled in these United States of American. There are very few music genres where African Americans have not only been influential but often have been leaders. You look at rhythm and blues, the mus'' that dates back to their Africa origins and that became popular during slavery days. They excelled in that. Jazz- is an eloquent statement of what African Americans have been able to do. You go back to New Orleans to look at its roots and you realize that they made a unique contribution to the world of music.

Fast forward and you come to rap and today's hip-hop generation and you realize that another unique contribution has been made to entertainment and to world music. So, it is not surprising that June has been proclaimed as African American Music Month, because of all these significant achievements. It would be obscene to let this month go by, without paying tribute to the achievements that African Americans have made to entertainment--in .the United States and also around the world. Where does one start in trying to name the music greats? Almost any list is bound to disappoint somebody, because so many people have contributed so much to black music. B. B. King, Dizzy

LETTER

POLICY

The Muncie Times accepts .and publishes “Letters to the Editor” under the following conditions: • The letter must indicate the writer’s name, address and phone number where the writer can be reached during the day. Addresses and phone numbers will not be published. ♦ If the writer wishes the letter to be published under a

pseudonym, that wish will be honored. However, the writer’s full particulars must be included in the letter, along with the suggested psedonym. • Letters must be brief, preferably no more than 300 words long and should, if possiole, be typed and doublespaced. Hand-written letters will also be accepted. • The editor reserves the

right to edit all letters for brevity, accuracy, taste,

grammar and libel.

• All correspondence should be addressed to: The Editor, The Muncie Times, 1304 N. Broadway, Muncie, IN 47303. • Unsolicited manuscripts will only be returned if the

writer includes a self-

addressed, stamped envelope

with correct postage.

MUNCIE TIMES STAFF Publisher Bea Moten-Foster Editor John T. Lambkun Advertising Bea Moten-Foster and Richard Casey Layout Erin Hein Typesetting J-D. Shinn

Contributors:

The Muncie Times is published twice monthly at 1304 N. Broadway, Muncie, Ind. 47303. It covers the communities of Anderson, Marion, New Castle, Richmond, and Muncie. All editorial correspondence should be addressed to: The Editor, The Muncie Times, 1304 N. Broadway, Muncie, IN 47303. Telephone (765) 741-0037.

Fax (765)741-0040.'

Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and Jimmy Hendrix. Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, Dianne Ross and the Supremes. Gladys Knight and the Pips, Prince, Michael and Janet Jackson. The late Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, Earth, Wind and Fire. Jimmy Brown, Tupac Shakur, Run MDC, Al Greene and the Notorious BIG. Art Kelly (despite his current legal problems), the late Aliyah, Hammer, Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott, Alicia Keyes and India

Arie.

Aretha Franklin, Master P, Usher, Keith Sweat, the Manhattans, the Platters, Smokey Robinson and The Temptations,... The list can continue, ad infinitum. No one can doubt that black Americans

have made numerous

contributions to

the world of

entertainment. They have been unusually adept at adding to the music genre. Singing is part of their culture. In trouble or in joy, in happiness or sadness, music

has

been an outlet. They sang while working in the

slave field.

They

pioneered the art of gospel music, to appeal to God and the scriptures during difficult times, especially when they were

working in the cotton fields and other farms at the height of the disgraceful slavery times. That game them succor, comfort, courage, hope and strength and the ability to face and overcome adversity in a strange land, with strange policies and rules. Nothing, it seems, could or would put them down or dampen their spirits. Music became their salvation and their strength. They were able to look at their past, understand their present and look forward to a better tomorrow. Black music has become one of the United States of America's enduring contribution to the international community. Today, there is hardly any place in our shrinking Global Village, which has not been exposed to the wonders and enjoyment of black music. Whether one's taste in music is in rap, pop, rhythm and blues, jazz, rock 'n' roll, gospel, soul, folk, the hip-hop culture or country and western, the African American influence has been pervasive. As we celebrate this African American Music Month, proclaimed by President George W. Bush at the end of May, let us not forget how music can be a force for good, for promoting diversity and for bringing people of all races, cultures, ethnicities, political views, religious beliefs and ideas together. That is the lasting legacy of African American music.